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The Skidmore News
volume 77 November 10, 1989 issue 11
The Campus Authority
CONFERENCE DEALS WITH SUBSTANCE ABUSE
by Gabrielle Gold
On Saturday, November4, Skidmore hosted the “Student to Student: Strategies to Deal with Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse on Campus” conference in the Dance Theater.
The goal of this all-day conference was to give students from Skidmore and 16 other colleges the opportunity to express their concern over the use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs on their campuses. It was also held so that students might learn about drug and alcohol use on campuses besides their own.
After registration, the conference commenced with a welcome by Robbie Nayman, Dean of Student Affairs; Dr. Sam Mastrianni, Executive Director of Four Winds - Saratoga; Cathy Tonjes, Dual Diagnosis Counselor, Four Winds - Saratoga; and John Stein, Director of Four Winds Program - Skidmore College. The atmosphere was one of anticipation and hope that all present would learn some valuable information for both themselves and their peers.
The first program was entitled “Looking in the Mirror: An Exploration of the College Scene.” This was an educational psychodrama, presented by Guy Taylor and colleagues of Four Winds - Saratoga. This program allowed the audience to vicariously experience the psychological ramifications of drug abuse. After this, there was an Intercollegiate
continued on page 6
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AS A WORLD HISTORICAL EVENT
Eric J. Hobsbawm, Professor at the New School for Social Research 8:15pm, Monday, November 13, 1989
Gannett Auditorium, Palamountain Hall
The November convocation will provide the Skidmore audience a unique opportunity to learn more about the French Revolution from a scholar of international repute. Considered a “historian of remarkable intelligence and erudition, “ Dr. Hobsbawm is a prolific author who has written on topics ranging from the age of revolution to the history of labor, from the study of jazz to an examination of bandits. It is his studies of 19th century history and in particular his ground-breaking research on social history that have won him acclaim throughout the world.
Educated in Vienna and London, where he was graduated from King’s College at the University of Cambridge, Dr. Hobsbawm embarked on his career following service in the British Army during World War II. He taught at the University of London from 1947-1982, retiring as a professor of history.
His university career was interspersed with appointments as a visiting scholar at a number of foreign institutions including Stanford University, Mexico’s National University, the College of France in Paris, and Cornell University. In addition, he has lectured at colleges and universities throughout the United States, Europe, the Soviet Union, Scandinavia, and Asia. Since 1984, Dr. Hobsbawm has been a professor of politics and society at the New School for Social Research in New York.
The author of eleven books (with two more scheduled for publication next year), Dr. Hobsbawm is perhaps best-known for his trilogy on the “long 19th century” (1789-1914), a period that encompasses both the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. These three books, The Age of Revolution, The Age of Capital, and The Age of Empire, are intended “for the intelligent and educated citizen who is not merely curious about the past, but wishes to understand how and why the world has come to be what it is today and whither it is going.” His subsequent books elaborate on his view that the “era of confident bourgeois civilization, growing wealth and Western empire carried within itself the embryo of the era of war, revolution and crisis which put an end to it.” While this basic theory has been challenged by a number of critics, his books have won wide praise for their imagination, depth, breadth, and novelty of insight.
Dr. Hobsbawm will appear at Skidmore just two days before speaking at the New York University commemoration of the bicentennial of the French Revolution. A mammoth project that took many years to coordinate, the NYU observance was launched in September 1988 and has drawn leading European and American scholars to academic and public events throughout the year.
We look forward to seeing you at the lecture and the reception that will follow in the lobby outside Gannett Auditorium.
Men of Letters: Skidmore in Prison
by Emma Ross
Comstock NY-
The seventh wrought iron gate slams shut behind us. Its reverberations and the echoed jangle of keys follow us as we walk down the interminable straight corridor past the cell blocks towards the classroom wing. Promptly at noon, students are escorted to the library to commence their study session.
This coming summer five or six of the most committed of these students will graduate with a degree from Skidmore.
Since 1974 Skidmore has run the Inmate Higher Education Program at Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Comstock NY.
Of the 340 students in Skidmore’s University Without Walls, 120 are incarcerated at either Great Meadow, a maximum security facility, or Washington Correctional Facility, a medium security prison, and since its inception, nearly 60 men have graduated with Skidmore degrees. An average of 25 Skidmore faculty contribute per semester, and at one time or another, nearly every department on campus has been represented by one or more faculty members teaching in the program. 80-90percent of the professors come back and teach again.
The program is financed by state and federal grants, and this state requires that every facility offer some sort of vocational or educational training (not necessarily a college education) so as not to keep inmates idle and to prepare them for some direction when they are released.
Should the students be released before they finish their degree they can apply to transfer to the Skidmore campus, where they follow the SUWW curriculum and not the traditional degree program. The acceptance rate is very low and the committee is very selective, and the admissions decisions are not Connected to the Surrey Admissions office, in that they are not filling spaces of prospective incoming freshman and transfers. Many variables are taken into account.
Ken Klotz, Coordinator of Comstock Programs and Academic Advisor, said that factors taken into consideration include not only academic competence, but also potential to adapt to the Skidmore campus environment, a genuine interest in education, and a sincere willingness to change their life around. Past record is also taken into account. The applicant faces six admissions interviewers, all of whom must agree before an offer is made. Since the late 1970s there has always been at least one ex-offender UWW student on campus, and this remains true to this day.
Classes offered are drawn from the current Skidmore curriculum and many professors, such as Ken Johnson of the Geology department, give exactly the same exams as on campus, and find the results to be not much different. “Some like to get a good trade, but don’t want to work for it,” said Johnson.
The program administrators are very careful to uphold educational standards, and hence quality, to ensure that the degree maintains its value. Although many of the students are enormously unprepared, to lower expectations and standards would be projecting a false sense of success and would only be cheating the students in the long run.
As far as student potential goes, professors see a much wider diversity of ability than on campus. “Some are just plain brilliant,” said Professor Lindeman, also of the Geology Department, “and others have no self confidence and low self-esteem, and are just looking for an excuse to fail.” Others are just slower and have to struggle tremendously to make the grade. “If their existence is stable, they tend to be more consistent, but if they have a chance of appeal or are nearing the end of their term, they are only thinking of one thing.... getting out.” Although the program is officially four years in duration, it is very rare for a student to complete in this time, so it can take up to six or more years to graduate, if at all. “If someone’s a little bit slow, they are probably going to get left behind,” said Professor Johnson, “for a one-on- one contact for more than 3 or 4 minutes is rare and it is difficult to evaluate the students mid-way.”
Keeping any sort of continuity is quite a challenge in itself, for there are many obstacles that frustrate both the students and the faculty. Often the number of students dwindles due to a loss of interest or lack of ability, transfer to another facility, or disciplinary action. Many people involved in the program conveyed a sense that there exists a certain amount of skepticism on the part of some prison officers toward the program.
Nearly all the inmates I spoke to agreed that Great Meadow is by far the most unpleasant facility in which to serve time, but that the Skidmore program is the “most sincere” college program of the prisons they have experienced.
Sincerity, and the fact that the professors believe in their ability, is especially important to these students. Although, of course, this cannot be said for all the students in the program, most of them have enrolled in the Skidmore program because they have decided to take initiative and try to create a better life for themselves. Education is their vehicle. Just like anyone else, they crave stimulation, and have endeavoured to use their time there constructively.
Their motives are not the same as ours. Part of why we come to college is to meet people, widen our friendships, and to have fun. This is not the case in prison. The value of college is purely academic for them, and most of them would not be in the program were they not serious about improving their situations.
Their backgrounds and environment are not as accomodating as ours - some have domestic difficulties weighing on them and they all have restrictions of mobility in their environment. They have to be very strong to keep up morale, remain highly self-disciplined, and also very committed to succeed. Of course, like anywhere, some are there just to fill in the time with something interesting, but, as one inmate said, “being in prison forces you to reevaluate your priorities and goals.” There comes a time when most of them reach a certain point of introspection and they realize that education opens a big door for them, and those who do not try to take advantage of it simply have not yet realized its importance. “Being in the Skidmore program,” one student said with satisfaction, “I have learned to think.”
It seems that both students and faculty are happy that the program exists, for one student said “Skidmore has been influential in bringing substance to my life, insight, and building foundations.” The professors get an immense satisfaction out of it, for Professor Johnson said of his 10 years experience of teaching at Washington and Great Meadow,” The feeling that, maybe for a few of the people, you’re going to change their life a little bit, even if it’s only a couple of them, makes the whole thing worthwhile.”
The Bloodmobile visited Skidmore College and students gave blood on Thursday, November 9
photo by Jed Cleary
COMPETING
Campus Bands Strive for Victory
Page 8
MATING
Chess Club Has New Champ
page 10
CONTENTS:
Arts & Entertainment...............page 8
College Governance.................page 3-4
Editorials.........................page 2
Features...........................page 7
Humor..............................page 9
Letters............................page 2
News...............................page 6
Off the Wire.......................page 5
Sports.............................page 10-12

The Skidmore News
volume 77 November 10, 1989 issue 11
The Campus Authority
CONFERENCE DEALS WITH SUBSTANCE ABUSE
by Gabrielle Gold
On Saturday, November4, Skidmore hosted the “Student to Student: Strategies to Deal with Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse on Campus” conference in the Dance Theater.
The goal of this all-day conference was to give students from Skidmore and 16 other colleges the opportunity to express their concern over the use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs on their campuses. It was also held so that students might learn about drug and alcohol use on campuses besides their own.
After registration, the conference commenced with a welcome by Robbie Nayman, Dean of Student Affairs; Dr. Sam Mastrianni, Executive Director of Four Winds - Saratoga; Cathy Tonjes, Dual Diagnosis Counselor, Four Winds - Saratoga; and John Stein, Director of Four Winds Program - Skidmore College. The atmosphere was one of anticipation and hope that all present would learn some valuable information for both themselves and their peers.
The first program was entitled “Looking in the Mirror: An Exploration of the College Scene.” This was an educational psychodrama, presented by Guy Taylor and colleagues of Four Winds - Saratoga. This program allowed the audience to vicariously experience the psychological ramifications of drug abuse. After this, there was an Intercollegiate
continued on page 6
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AS A WORLD HISTORICAL EVENT
Eric J. Hobsbawm, Professor at the New School for Social Research 8:15pm, Monday, November 13, 1989
Gannett Auditorium, Palamountain Hall
The November convocation will provide the Skidmore audience a unique opportunity to learn more about the French Revolution from a scholar of international repute. Considered a “historian of remarkable intelligence and erudition, “ Dr. Hobsbawm is a prolific author who has written on topics ranging from the age of revolution to the history of labor, from the study of jazz to an examination of bandits. It is his studies of 19th century history and in particular his ground-breaking research on social history that have won him acclaim throughout the world.
Educated in Vienna and London, where he was graduated from King’s College at the University of Cambridge, Dr. Hobsbawm embarked on his career following service in the British Army during World War II. He taught at the University of London from 1947-1982, retiring as a professor of history.
His university career was interspersed with appointments as a visiting scholar at a number of foreign institutions including Stanford University, Mexico’s National University, the College of France in Paris, and Cornell University. In addition, he has lectured at colleges and universities throughout the United States, Europe, the Soviet Union, Scandinavia, and Asia. Since 1984, Dr. Hobsbawm has been a professor of politics and society at the New School for Social Research in New York.
The author of eleven books (with two more scheduled for publication next year), Dr. Hobsbawm is perhaps best-known for his trilogy on the “long 19th century” (1789-1914), a period that encompasses both the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. These three books, The Age of Revolution, The Age of Capital, and The Age of Empire, are intended “for the intelligent and educated citizen who is not merely curious about the past, but wishes to understand how and why the world has come to be what it is today and whither it is going.” His subsequent books elaborate on his view that the “era of confident bourgeois civilization, growing wealth and Western empire carried within itself the embryo of the era of war, revolution and crisis which put an end to it.” While this basic theory has been challenged by a number of critics, his books have won wide praise for their imagination, depth, breadth, and novelty of insight.
Dr. Hobsbawm will appear at Skidmore just two days before speaking at the New York University commemoration of the bicentennial of the French Revolution. A mammoth project that took many years to coordinate, the NYU observance was launched in September 1988 and has drawn leading European and American scholars to academic and public events throughout the year.
We look forward to seeing you at the lecture and the reception that will follow in the lobby outside Gannett Auditorium.
Men of Letters: Skidmore in Prison
by Emma Ross
Comstock NY-
The seventh wrought iron gate slams shut behind us. Its reverberations and the echoed jangle of keys follow us as we walk down the interminable straight corridor past the cell blocks towards the classroom wing. Promptly at noon, students are escorted to the library to commence their study session.
This coming summer five or six of the most committed of these students will graduate with a degree from Skidmore.
Since 1974 Skidmore has run the Inmate Higher Education Program at Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Comstock NY.
Of the 340 students in Skidmore’s University Without Walls, 120 are incarcerated at either Great Meadow, a maximum security facility, or Washington Correctional Facility, a medium security prison, and since its inception, nearly 60 men have graduated with Skidmore degrees. An average of 25 Skidmore faculty contribute per semester, and at one time or another, nearly every department on campus has been represented by one or more faculty members teaching in the program. 80-90percent of the professors come back and teach again.
The program is financed by state and federal grants, and this state requires that every facility offer some sort of vocational or educational training (not necessarily a college education) so as not to keep inmates idle and to prepare them for some direction when they are released.
Should the students be released before they finish their degree they can apply to transfer to the Skidmore campus, where they follow the SUWW curriculum and not the traditional degree program. The acceptance rate is very low and the committee is very selective, and the admissions decisions are not Connected to the Surrey Admissions office, in that they are not filling spaces of prospective incoming freshman and transfers. Many variables are taken into account.
Ken Klotz, Coordinator of Comstock Programs and Academic Advisor, said that factors taken into consideration include not only academic competence, but also potential to adapt to the Skidmore campus environment, a genuine interest in education, and a sincere willingness to change their life around. Past record is also taken into account. The applicant faces six admissions interviewers, all of whom must agree before an offer is made. Since the late 1970s there has always been at least one ex-offender UWW student on campus, and this remains true to this day.
Classes offered are drawn from the current Skidmore curriculum and many professors, such as Ken Johnson of the Geology department, give exactly the same exams as on campus, and find the results to be not much different. “Some like to get a good trade, but don’t want to work for it,” said Johnson.
The program administrators are very careful to uphold educational standards, and hence quality, to ensure that the degree maintains its value. Although many of the students are enormously unprepared, to lower expectations and standards would be projecting a false sense of success and would only be cheating the students in the long run.
As far as student potential goes, professors see a much wider diversity of ability than on campus. “Some are just plain brilliant,” said Professor Lindeman, also of the Geology Department, “and others have no self confidence and low self-esteem, and are just looking for an excuse to fail.” Others are just slower and have to struggle tremendously to make the grade. “If their existence is stable, they tend to be more consistent, but if they have a chance of appeal or are nearing the end of their term, they are only thinking of one thing.... getting out.” Although the program is officially four years in duration, it is very rare for a student to complete in this time, so it can take up to six or more years to graduate, if at all. “If someone’s a little bit slow, they are probably going to get left behind,” said Professor Johnson, “for a one-on- one contact for more than 3 or 4 minutes is rare and it is difficult to evaluate the students mid-way.”
Keeping any sort of continuity is quite a challenge in itself, for there are many obstacles that frustrate both the students and the faculty. Often the number of students dwindles due to a loss of interest or lack of ability, transfer to another facility, or disciplinary action. Many people involved in the program conveyed a sense that there exists a certain amount of skepticism on the part of some prison officers toward the program.
Nearly all the inmates I spoke to agreed that Great Meadow is by far the most unpleasant facility in which to serve time, but that the Skidmore program is the “most sincere” college program of the prisons they have experienced.
Sincerity, and the fact that the professors believe in their ability, is especially important to these students. Although, of course, this cannot be said for all the students in the program, most of them have enrolled in the Skidmore program because they have decided to take initiative and try to create a better life for themselves. Education is their vehicle. Just like anyone else, they crave stimulation, and have endeavoured to use their time there constructively.
Their motives are not the same as ours. Part of why we come to college is to meet people, widen our friendships, and to have fun. This is not the case in prison. The value of college is purely academic for them, and most of them would not be in the program were they not serious about improving their situations.
Their backgrounds and environment are not as accomodating as ours - some have domestic difficulties weighing on them and they all have restrictions of mobility in their environment. They have to be very strong to keep up morale, remain highly self-disciplined, and also very committed to succeed. Of course, like anywhere, some are there just to fill in the time with something interesting, but, as one inmate said, “being in prison forces you to reevaluate your priorities and goals.” There comes a time when most of them reach a certain point of introspection and they realize that education opens a big door for them, and those who do not try to take advantage of it simply have not yet realized its importance. “Being in the Skidmore program,” one student said with satisfaction, “I have learned to think.”
It seems that both students and faculty are happy that the program exists, for one student said “Skidmore has been influential in bringing substance to my life, insight, and building foundations.” The professors get an immense satisfaction out of it, for Professor Johnson said of his 10 years experience of teaching at Washington and Great Meadow,” The feeling that, maybe for a few of the people, you’re going to change their life a little bit, even if it’s only a couple of them, makes the whole thing worthwhile.”
The Bloodmobile visited Skidmore College and students gave blood on Thursday, November 9
photo by Jed Cleary
COMPETING
Campus Bands Strive for Victory
Page 8
MATING
Chess Club Has New Champ
page 10
CONTENTS:
Arts & Entertainment...............page 8
College Governance.................page 3-4
Editorials.........................page 2
Features...........................page 7
Humor..............................page 9
Letters............................page 2
News...............................page 6
Off the Wire.......................page 5
Sports.............................page 10-12